By continuing elected student council members.

When the realities of COVID-19 set in and the high school moved to remote learning, one of our first questions was: what now? Our overall academic approach is rooted in active pedagogy, experiential learning, and collaboration, which all seemed more difficult and less relevant. And with words like “essential” becoming a part of the discourse about difficult decisions, we witnessed first hand on how our teachers rose to the occasion and shifted in their roles and the “essentialness” of a Waldorf program that continues to engage and educate all of us, the students.

The path forward emerged as we continued to receive directions from the teachers on a daily basis and the student council giving them feedback in our weekly updates. As it so often does, from taking a step back, and from staying true to the core ideas of building community by learning with and from students, our remote learning experiences continue to flourish and improve as the weeks progressed. 

The student council was able to reach out to individual classes and ask some simple questions: Where are you? How are you? Would you like to share how distance learning  is going for you? The answers to the last question moved us to action as a whole high school community. Not only did students want to continue their learning, but they saw the efforts that were being put into the program as something that connected us to WSP and to each other—something …essential.  

One of the things we feared would be lost is the collective spaces of creativity. Recognizing potential loss before it did was something that the high school community gradually built upon by adding space for Radio Hour, Art Cafe, club meetings, student council engagement and the idea of activating our community to create an online creative quarantine movement begin to emerge. As we worked through the process of what it would be and how it would work, it became clear that this was not just another call to action—this was WSP high school at this moment. 

As Waldorf students, we are used to adapting to unnatural situations by  creating solutions. We are supported and encouraged by our teachers, who have aided us in spending less time on our screens by assigning work that allows our minds to work rather than our eyes be strained. Homework was reported to be more manageable and some said the later start of school benefited their sleep schedule and well being.

It was great to see people engaging and sharing, and it has offered a way for existing clubs and student life to continue in new ways. In fact, our isolation has forced us to be more intentional about working together, which is something the Student Council plans on carrying forward. While the path forward is not as clear as it has always been, it still feels pointed in the right direction, and it is reassuring to be on it with others…even on Zoom.

STUDENT COUNCIL ACCOMPLISHMENTS for 2019/20

1. Student Council Box
2. Gratitude Day
3. Spirit Week
4. Secret Santa
5. Cider Monday
6. High School Club Fair
7. HS Clubs Bulletin Board on Discord
8. SC Weekly Minutes 

STUDENT COUNCIL GRATITUDE

The Student Council would like to express our deepest gratitude to the members who served on the council for 2019/20. Your dedication and commitment to improve the student life and well being of the high school community was inspiring and we will miss each one of you. Thank you for your leadership, mentoring, patience, care and humor. We promise to carry on your legacy and nurture the seeds that you helped plant this past year. Wishing each and everyone of you all the best in your future endeavors. Thank you.